Save the (New) Date: An Insight Dialogue Retreat for Therapists and Health Professionals

The retreat will be held at the Shalom House Retreat Center located in rural western Hanover County, Virginia.</p>Situated on 100 acres, it is 25 miles northwest of Richmond.</p>Information and directions can be found at the…

About us

Please note date change.

Registration is not yet open; please check back in late 2018.

Much of the time as humans we live, not so much in present life as in our mental patterns, our conditioned views about life. When an internal or external experience arises, we meet it with a mind state, a thought, an emotion or a whole story that colors the actual experience and leads to distorted views of reality and, ultimately to suffering. The practice of mindfulness reveals this process directly and opens the door to cultivating embodied awareness, spaciousness, non-identification, and release. We discover the relief of a mind at peace, we learn to work with our habitual stories and the difficult emotions that may accompany them as discreet phenomena that come, go, and evolve.

In this Insight Dialogue retreat, we will practice silent meditation and, together, the contemplations of Insight Dialogue in which we will explore our moment-to-moment experience while meditating in dialogue with others. This dialogue practice can open us to perceive and understand things that are normally overlooked in our own personal perceptions. Meditating together, we discover and investigate the mind’s constructing nature and its great potential for awareness and for freedom.

Program Goals

Therapists will be able to describe and practice key components of mindfulness meditation practice. Mindful awareness of three aspects of ordinary experience.

Therapists will apply these guidelines to remain present and self-aware while navigating pleasant and unpleasant moments in intrapersonal experience.

Apply these ID guidelines to remain present and self-aware while navigating pleasant and unpleasant moments in interpersonal dialogue.

Use these guidelines to identify and work in wholesome ways with already arisen difficult mind states, including both thought and emotion, that can interfere with presence, clear discernment and wise intervention.

Use these guidelines to develop and practice wholesome discernment and habits which allow one to prevent the arising of additional difficult mind states.

Apply these skills to the cultivation and deepening of therapists’ integrated and coherent embodied presence when working with clients’ difficult mind states and emotions

Format

While offered as a professional training, this program is presented primarily in retreat form. Noble silence is practiced through most of the retreat except when we are actively meditating in dialogue together. Opportunities are available towards the end of the retreat for participants to speak and network more informally, further supporting the personal and professional connections that extend beyond the official frame of the retreat.

Eligibility

This retreat is designed for mental health professionals working in a clinical practice, although it may be appropriate for other health care providers. Previous retreat experience and an established meditation practice are considered highly advantageous, but are not required. Please read for more information on the meditation practice of Insight Dialogue.

Continuing Education

24.5 hours of Continuing Education credits are expected to be issued for Psychologists, Social Workers, Nurses and Licensed Professional Counselors.

About the
Venue and Teachers

Our community extends globally, coming together on teacher-led retreats, in online practice, and in local peer-led groups. We warmly welcome all people to explore with us the practices of Insight Dialogue and Dharma Contemplation, and teachings of relational Dhamma.

Sharon Beckman-Brindley, Ph.D., is an Insight Dialogue Teacher who has taught Insight Dialogue retreats worldwide. As a clinical psychologist, Sharon has served as team leader for Metta’s Relational Insight Meditation Program. She also served on the Metta Programs’ Teachers Council. Sharon has practiced Vipassana meditation for over thirty years. Since 2001 she has studied and practiced the Dhamma and Insight Dialogue intensively with Gregory Kramer. She also is a co-founder and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville, Virginia and is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Sharon has over 30 years of practice as a psychotherapist and she has led workshops and retreats on meditation and its integration with psychotherapy for over 15 years. Sharon is a stepmother and a grandmother; she lives with her husband and their two cats in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Phyllis Hicks, DMin, NCLPC is an Insight Dialogue Teacher and teaches Insight Dialogue retreats worldwide. She is a co-author of the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program and serves on Metta Programs Teachers’ Council. Phyllis is a licensed psychotherapist. For thirty years she has brought together Eastern and Western understandings of psychology and contemplative practice in clinical settings. She studied with a variety of Vipassana teachers and has trained and taught with Gregory Kramer since 2004. She is a guiding teacher for Triangle Insight and teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction at an integrative medical center. She directs the Pastoral Care and Counseling Institute of Durham, North Carolina, a non-profit center for counseling and clinical education. Phyllis lives and works in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

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Retreat Guru's Vision

We believe human beings are innately wise, strong and kind. This wisdom, although not always experienced, is always present. Going on retreat is a beautiful way to reconnect to our basic sanity and health. Our aspiration at Retreat Guru is to inspire people to experience authentic retreats and reconnect with their innate wisdom, strength and kindness.